We talked mob money with writer Gay Talese at the screening of Gomorrah.

After months of speculation, we got to the bottom of Marquee's temporary summer shutdown.

We tallied gifts, drank absinthe, and chatted with godfather Michael Musto at nightlife heir Liam McMullan's 21st birthday party.

Russell Crowe got a little testy at the Body of Lies premiere--par for the course, we suppose.

We partied with Diane von Furstenberg, Tory Burch, Fern Mallis, Martha Stewart and Rory and Elie Tahari as the CFDA welcomed its newest members.

It looks like residents of the Soho block recently taken over by Delicatessen--one of whom peed on the restaurant's glass roof in early September--still have not warmed up to their loud, cocktatil-gulping neighbor. Via Eater, we bring you what they are calling "one of the best reader emails of all time":

Last night a friend and I were walking around SoHo and saw Delicatessen...Within five minutes of sitting at the bar, some young super-angry dude storms up to the bar and starts laying into the bartending staff screaming shit like, 'Fuck you!!! Fuck your restaurant!!! Fuck your hipstery little patrons who think they are so fucking cool!!! People fucking live on this block!!! I can hear these people screaming outside my fucking apartment all fucking night!!!' And all through his rant everyone, including the bartending staff, are just staring at this dude with big grins on their faces, clearly enjoying his rage.  read more »

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission may vote on developer Aby Rosen's proposed Norman Foster-designed commercial tower at 980 Madison Avenue at its meeting next week, according to a Landmarks spokeswoman. Such a move would bring to an end a more than two-year debate over a planned tower at the site, which has sparked a firestorm of criticism in the Upper East Side from nearby residents and author Tom Wolfe (see our Q&A with Mr. Wolfe here).

Lisi de Bourbon, the Landmarks spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that the commission would "comment, and possibly vote" on the tower on Tuesday.

Among the most useful exercises to ward off mental plaque is to imagine reversed circumstances. Now a provocative version of that exercise has popped up on various message boards, written by someone who wonders how America would receive an Obama family that was ... well, more like the McCain and Palin families. It is especially useful for those who imagine that racial prejudice has magically disappeared:  read more »

Barclays Capital has fired Mark Walsh, the man in charge of Lehman Brothers' commercial real estate investments, along with nearly all the rest of Lehman's commercial-mortgage-backed securities team, according to the trade mag Commercial Mortgage Alert.

Mr. Walsh has often been described as the "man behind the curtain" who made Lehman Brothers loads of money during the heyday of the CMBS market, but also as a man who took far too many risks and ultimately played a significant role in Lehman's demise. Indeed, Mr. Walsh financed Tishman-Speyer's ill-conceived $22.2 billion acquisition of Archstone-Smith, a luxury apartment building portfolio that has since been devalued; and financed SunCal's $110.2 million purchase of a 2.25-acre plot of land in Southern California.  read more »

Anya Hindmarch's handbag collection for Target sold out within two minutes when it went on sale at 11 a.m. on the designer's Web site. [Vogue UK]

Balenciaga has signed a deal with Coty Inc.’s Coty Prestige division to create a new line of fragrances under the Balenciaga name. [WWD]

Gossip Girl Taylor Momsen's high fashion spread in Crash magazine is everything we hoped it would be: a little awkward, a little scary, and way too fun to stare at. [FabSugar via The Cut]

Marc Jacobs is still wearing skirts around town. [FashionIndie]

Former New York Times reporter Linda Greenhouse tells Radaronline.com's Charles Kaiser that the most "gripping scene" she ever saw at the Supreme Court was when the 2003 decision of Lawrence v. Texas came down:

I think that was probably the most gripping scene I ever witnessed at the Court—when Kennedy read the majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas. Usually, when you go up to the Court, you don't know what's coming that day. But it was the last day of the term, and Lawrence was the last undecided case. So everybody knew, and the Court was filled with gay and lesbian members of the Supreme Court bar.

 read more »

According to a report from Variety's Michael Schneider, V, the 1983 alien invasion mini-series, is being redeveloped for television. (This comes via TVTattle.)

Writes Mr. Schneider:

ABC is developing a new adaptation of the franchise — which spawned a second mini and TV spinoff — written by "The 4400" co-creator/exec producer Scott Peters.

Warner Bros. TV, which was behind the original longform, is once again producing the project, which was sold as a spec script to the Alphabet net.

Mr. Peters is quoted as saying, "Whenever I mention 'V' to anybody, they still have a lot of good memories about the original movie and series. … Everybody has that imagery of their uniforms, or the visitor eating a hamster. It's a science fiction icon and too good to pass up."

"Good memories"? We just remember being completely terrified. But not as terrified as we were watching The Day After that same year.  read more »

Can money still be quadrupled in the Manhattan real estate market? Someone seems to think so.

Elliman put a townhouse at 333 East 65th Street on the market yesterday for $15 million, even though records show that the place sold only 13 months ago for $3,736,765.

The ambitious owner is a Washington personal injury lawyer named Simon Forgette. (Personal injury lawyers adore Manhattan real estate; read this or this or the second item here for proof.)

The listing says there's been an "impeccable renovation" (the picture above is old, but the listing doesn't have anything newer). "The owner did a total renovation, a gut renovation, and that's what he feels the property is worth," listing broker Beth Roberts said today when asked about the listing price.  read more »

A reader in the comments section tried connecting a few dots between Michael Bloomberg’s former consultants at Knickerbocker SKD and the role some key players in the term-limits debate are playing, including Christine Quinn and the powerful union 1199 SEIU.

It's speculative stuff, but here's what we know: Bloomberg, as the Times noted today, hired Josh Isay of Knickerbocker for his 2005 re-election campaign and is likely to rely on him again for the next one. (In a brief email exchange today, Isay politely declined to detail the role he’s currently playing for Bloomberg.)

Isay is also a consultant for Quinn, who hasn’t publicly stated her position on the effort to change term limits legislatively, although  read more »